A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

The Verdict

OK. The verdict on the new look of my blog is in. Sort of.

Yesterday over a thousand people visited my blog at least
one time. (With repetitions there were 3703 hits!) Of those only 186 people voted
in my poll. So I’m not sure how reflective the results of my poll are. But here
are the numbers:

Loved it: 12 (6%)

Liked it: 48 (25%)

Neutral: 30 (16%)

Didn’t like it: 59
(31%)

Hated it: 37
(19%)

Is this a representative sample of what everyone thinks? Or is the fact that most people did not care enough to vote make them neutral?

Looking strictly at the numbers, the results are
inconclusive. Exactly 50% of those who voted either didn’t like it or hated it.
Everyone else was either neutral, liked it, or loved it. If everyone would be neutral,
I would probably not change anything because I like the new look. Since the numbers are split 50/50, I am
therefore conflicted as to how – or even whether – to change the look so it is
acceptable to more people. It is also very possible (as one person told me
privately in an e-mail ) that people don’t like change. They come to a website
and expect to see what they always see. And when they don’t, it often elicits a
negative response.

However I am not relying on the poll alone. It seems that
the biggest objection was to the difficulty in reading the items placed in the
sidebar – including the poll itself. Some people could not see the multiple choices
responding to the question asked.

I will therefore be changing the look of the blog again. In
spite of the fact that I really do like the new look, if people are having
problems reading the peripherals, I am defeating the purpose of having those
peripherals. I hope to be able to either modify this template to eliminate this
problem or choose an entirely different template. I hope I can retain some of
the aesthetics and not end up with a
completely bland look. Some people like ‘bland’ I don’t. The primary goal will
be however to make it as readable as possible.

Hopefully by the end of the day, I will have something.
Thank you all for your generous input.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.